{"id":845454,"date":"2023-10-25T14:55:09","date_gmt":"2023-10-25T18:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/?post_type=gap&p=845454"},"modified":"2024-05-21T12:38:53","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T16:38:53","slug":"mike-johnson","status":"publish","type":"gap","link":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/gap\/mike-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2014Declared his support for the right-wing boycott of Target<\/a> due to the retailer\u2019s LGBTQ-inclusive Pride Month merchandise saying that shopping at Target is not \u201chonoring God.” LGBTQ Nation<\/a> reports that “Johnson ranted about Target during\u00a0the recently unearthed May 27, 2023 episode<\/a>\u00a0of his\u00a0Truth be Told with Mike & Kelly Johnson<\/em> podcast, where he interviewed the leader of the anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Family Research Council<\/a>, Tony Perkins. Johnson first talked about inflation and supply chain issues but then said that \u201cunderneath all that are these root problems,\u201d one of which was the LGBTQ+ Pride displays.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Without basis claimed<\/a> that President Biden “betrayed the central tenet of Easter” by “proclaiming Easter Sunday as ‘Transgender Day'” adding that it “is outrageous and abhorrent.” In fact<\/a>, Easter changes dates each year due to the and Trans Day of Visibility, the correct name for the annual awareness day, always falls on March 31.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Said<\/a> America’s <\/span>culture was “so dark and depraved that it almost seems irredeemable,” and cited LGBTQ people as a factor that could incite God’s wrath if America doesn’t “restore the foundations and return to Him.\u201d On a prayer call hosted by a Christian nationalist pastor, Johnson complained that \u201cone-in-four high school students identifies as something other than straight,\u201d and that this was one of the reasons for God may impose “judgement of our collective sins.”<\/p>\n

\u2014Wrote<\/a> the foreword to and publicly promoted The Revivalist Manifesto, <\/em>a 2022 book by Louisiana politics blogger Scott McKay that spread baseless and discredited conspiracy theories and used derogatory homophobic insults. The book d<\/span>escribes Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as \u201cGay Mayor Pete Buttigieg,\u201d the \u201cqueer choice\u201d for a Cabinet position, and describes him as \u201copenly, and obnoxiously, gay.\u201d The book also gives credence to unfounded conspiracy theories including Pizzagate, the false claim that top Democratic officials were involved in a pedophile ring. On Johnson’s podcast he said, \u201cI obviously believe in the product, or I wouldn\u2019t have written the foreword. So I endorse the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

“I think we need to spend less time talking about the no-name, now ex-Congressman from New York who never had any real power to begin with. The real scandal is about the man who is currently second in line for the presidency.”
\n@jrpsaki<\/a> explains why: pic.twitter.com\/3ENLliDhHM<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) December 3, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n